Sinister – Gods of the Abyss (2017)

Originally intended to be the demo of the band formed by Aad Kloosterwaard and Alex Paul when Sinister split up back in 2003, “Gods of the Abyss” sees the light of day via Vic Records. This four song demo marked the move of Aad to vocals, and also the new era of Sinister with a renewed Nuclear Blast record band in the day. The tracks presented here formed part of the “Afterburner” album in 2006.

Leading with the piercing riffage of “The Grey Massacre”, we instantly get Sinister’s traditional intensity and viciousness with pretty solid vocals. One has to remember that before the band broke up in 2003, they had a terrible vocalist that single-handedly made “Savage or Grace” and “Creative Killings” two of the worst albums of the time. Anyways, the move of Aad to handle vocal duties was a pretty good one.

The onslaught continues with the crushing intensity of “Afterburner”, we love the retro vibe and the not extremely polished production that give it its charm. The band’s occasional guitar leads make for some interesting passages in their songs. Continuing to demolish the listener with “Altruistic Suicide” and “Man Down”, we can instantly hear why the magic of Sinister was resurrected and the rest is history.

Overall, “Gods of the Abyss” is an interesting insight into Sinister’s long and prosperous musical career. If you are a fan of the band and/or old-school Death Metal, this is definitely one release that should go into your collection. Listening to this release brought back our memories of when we first picked up a used copy of “Cross the Styx”, as one of the first Death Metal albums we ever heard… more than 20 years ago.

Label: Vic Records

Release: June 23rd, 2017

Genre: Death Metal

Country: Sweden